Don’t have time to run? Find time.

We all are busy. With work, school, kids, meetings, cooking dinner, feeding the dog, and then training to top it all off can sometimes be a bit overwhelming. However, it is almost always better to make the effort to squeeze in that extra short run that you were going to skip than to forget about it. Come race day, you will appreciate all the training you managed to fit into your hectic schedule. Here are some tips to help you find time to go for a run, even if it’s only 20 or 30 minutes.

1. Write out a schedule. If you have a schedule written out you are much more likely to follow it than if it’s just your plan to go for a run a few times a week. Once you get adjusted to running every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday it will feel weird if you skip a scheduled run. Post the schedule everywhere. Put a copy on your desk, put another copy on your dresser, another in your purse or gym bag and another in your car. With it staring at you everywhere you go, you are sure not to forget about it.

2. Keep running shoes and clothes in your car at all times. Every so often you get a short window of time at lunch or at your kids’ soccer practice where you can get in a short run. If you have your running gear with you all you have to do change and get out there

3. Keep baby wipes in your gym bag or purse so when you do fit in a run, no one else has to know about it—or at least smell it.

4. Wake up a little earlier than normal. This is the most difficult thing for me to do, but getting a run in before work is one of the most stress relieving activities—I don’t have to worry all day if I’ll be able to fit in a run after work.

5. Make plans to meet a friend for a run. If you are supposed to meet someone at 6:00 to go running you are accountable to someone other than just yourself, making it a lot more difficult to bail.

****Linzay Logan is the copy editor forCompetitor magazine and cares about punctuation probably a little too much. She particularly loves to avoid commas as well as add exclamation points whenever she can get away with it! She also loves to run marathons and half-marathons—probably a little too much. Don’t let her small size fool you; she’ll still try to outrun you anytime. Even though chances are she probably can’t. Have a question or comment for Linzay? Email her at Llogan@competitorgroup.com